Huge Update!

Arrrgggghhhhhhh! No! No! No!

I just wrote out a huge long update and then this stupid virus appeared and it's all gone! Now I'm going to have to write it all out again! Stupid virus!!!

Anyway, here we go again....

I've abandoned you guys for a whole month now but due to numerous requests (Stephen) and death threats (Peter!), I though I was due for an update. So, my last blog was from the middle of February. Work continued to be slow for the rest of the month which meant the staff had alot more time on their hands. Being a mischievious lot, it's made way for quite a few pranks and server jokes.

One favourite is when a server comes into the kitchen and tells another server, "table 307 (or whatever your table is) has asked for three waters (or more bread)." You take out what they've asked for only to learn they never ordered it in the first place. You end up looking like a complete idiot. However, the one time you ignore someone who tells you your table needs something is the one time they'll be telling the truth!

Another fun one was one I played on my roommate (sorry Vikki). I told her guests that it was her birthday and they had to be nice to her. You should have seen her face when her tables sung her Happy Birthday!!!! She looked so confused! I was laughing so hard I could barely stand!

Another thing servers seem to enjoy doing is hiding little green army men all round the restaurant. They're only four centimetres tall (about one and a hlaf inches, mum) so they blend in really well. Management really don't like it but we all enjoy sitting in the pre-shift meetings silently pointing them out to each other. When one is found by the managers, it's removed, we get told off and there's a new one hidden in the restaurant by the end of the day!

Another good thing about the restaurent being slow has been the free time we've all enjoyed. A group of us went out for Nia's birthday a couple of weeks ago and Stephie, David, Kev and I went along to the Sleuths Mystery Dinner Show last month. It was so much fun. It's a murder mystery and you have to solve the murder. I really got into it, writing notes all over the napkins. We came up with a brilliant theorey. Unfortunately, we were brilliantly wrong but our table decided we liked our theorey better than the real one anyway.

On my day off last week, I was able to fufil an ambition of mine and I went hang gliding. I've always wanted to do that but something has always stopped me. Either the instructor was ill or the wind was too strong or it was raining.... This time, however, nothing went wrong and the glider was towed up to mile high with no problem. The instructor cut the cord and we were flying! It was like being Peter Pan! We cloud surfed (bumpy) and did a couple of corkscrew turns and steep dives but the best part was when we were just gliding. We went through the clouds and I saw the shadow of the glider on the cloud, surrounded by a rainbow circle. It was brilliant as not many people get to see that. I even got to pilot the glider on the way back down. I loved it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

We've had a few throw outs recently. I've explained throw outs before but just in case you weren't paying attention, I'll explain again. Throw outs happen at the end of people's year program. All the crap they've accumulated over the year, posters, ornaments, soft toys, CD players, TV's, foot spas, Christmas trees....they get everyone together and give it all away. Everyone gets in the one apartment, the item is held up and whoever yells "shotgun" first gets it. A few items are reserved for personal friends and it's always sweet to see those being given out. It's always something like "I'm throwing out this wine glass to Hayley because she was there that day we got so hammered we left our underwear in the bushes..." or "this teddy is for Sophie because she let me cry on her shoulder when I was homesick". Getting a personal throwout makes you feel really good. I got three from Amy's throwout, all soft toy cats because "Tori's missing her cat so much, she's trying to kidnap the strays".

Talking of the strays, there's a really cute little cat here I call Tails and it's true, I have been trying to kidnap him. For a stray, he's very tame and I've taken to leaving food out for him. If housing found out I'd be so beyond terminated! I nearly got busted the other day when we had inspection. They saw a tin of catfood out on the counter and asked about it. Thinking really quickly, I told them it was from a throwout as everyone knows I love cats. They did it as a fun thing and I said if they wanted to check, they'd see it was years out of date. Luckily they didn't call my bluff so I got away with it this time. Ooooppps!

Colin and Sam's throwout was actually quite sad. There was a personal throwout to me ("this huge crate of books is for Tori because everyone knows she's the bookworm") but the worst part was knowing Sam and Colin are leaving. Before, it was just people I worked with but never really got the chance to know very well. Now it's actual friends that are going. People I will miss. Plus, it's a big reminder that my time out here is going fast. There's always a speech at the end of a throwout and they always say "your year will go really fast". I've always thought they were lying but it's so true. Time is passing by so fast, I want to stop the world, just for a minute and really appreciate where I am and what I'm doing. It's been nearly 8 months! I go back to England in another 4! That's crazy!

In a way it's good as I do miss things about home. I miss my mum and my brother and my little niece, Isobel and my sister (who luckily isn't very computer savvy so will never find out that I said that). I miss rain. Stupid, I know but when I'm feeling low, I love watching the rain fall. It rarely falls out here.

I miss cheese and pickle sandwiches, my workmates, Canterbury, people actually knowing what a banger is (no, it isn't a firework you dumbarse guest, it's a sausage!), my cat....so in a way, it's good that my time is going by. However, I know when I get back, that's it for me. No more travelling. Just working to pay the rent. I expect most of my money will go on bills so life will not be fun when I get back to the UK. Therefore, the idea that time is flying by so quickly scares me.

Okay, you are now up to date with life over here. It's weird. A few paragraphs sums up my activities for the past month. However, I don't end up telling you the little things like trips to Walmart or ending up staying up really late talking or evenings spent at Downtown Disney. You only ever get to hear the big stuff.

Just a couple of the "small things" that happened that I'll tell you about before I abandon you. I had a table the other night consisting of a middle age couple (early 50's). I was chatting to them for ages and I was really enjoying myself. They're Florida residents so they've promised to come back and eat but by the end of their meal, they were telling me all about their son, Greg and how he'd love me. They told me "he loves brown hair and brown eyes" and then asked how tall I was! They finished by saying "Greg will make an excellent husband and father" so I guess I'm getting married soon! I didn't pay much mind to it as servers are seen as fair game out here. I've been given a couple of phone numbers (including one from a woman!) and I've got a business card from a minister if I want to get married out here.

Another one is my roommate, Vikki went to California for a few days and she posted a postcard as soon as she arrived to see if it would beat her home. It didn't quite manage that but we just went down to our postbox and it's there, all the way from California!

See, sometimes the little things are worth a mention!